Rightly Dividing the Word

 

 

2 Peter 3:15-18 "And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; ¹⁶ as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. ¹⁷ Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. ¹⁸ But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen."

 
I'd like to preach today in this article about understanding the bible, particularly in the epistles of Paul, and could be said in a lot of other places in bible where there are some things that are hard to be understood.

It is true that there are some things said in the bible that really confound you, but just as there are hard things in the bible to be understood; there are also things in the bible that can be understood easily as well.

So if the bible tells us that there some things hard to be understood, doesn't that tell us that there are a lot of things that can be easily understood in there also?

Now you might ask yourself, why are there things in the bible that are hard to understand, God is all powerful and all knowing; why didn't he just make everything in the bible easy to understand?

Open your bibles to Matthew 13.

 

Matthew 13:9-10 "Who hath ears to hear, let him hear. ¹⁰ And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?"

 
The disciples are wondering here as to why he speaks to the people in parables, they wanted to know why Jesus doesn't explicitly tell the people what he wants them to hear. Let's look at the next verses where Jesus answers them.

 

Matthew 13:11-14 "He answered and said unto them, because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. ¹² For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath. ¹³ Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. ¹⁴ And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:"

 
You can clearly see from those verses that Jesus is saying, that there are certain things in the bible that are designed so that certain people who might hear it or read will not understand it.

Jesus said to his disciples that unto you it is given so that the disciples will understand the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but unto them it is not given.
The bible says in 1 Corinthians chapter 2 the following.

 

1 Corinthians 2:14 "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

 
So according to the bible the natural man, the unsaved man, will not be able to understand the things of God: He said it's foolishness unto him, you have to be saved to be able to understand the things of the bible.

To an unsaved person, most of the things said in the bible is going to go right over their head, and the bible is purposely written in that way.

 

Matthew 13:15-17 "for this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. ¹⁶ But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. ¹⁷ For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them."

 
So in those verses, we learn that certain things in the bible were not able to be understood in the distant past, but only to be understood in the later on in human history as certain things would come to pass and God himself revealing more information ultimately in the book of Revelation.

There were many people in the Old Testament who wanted to understand the things but it was only given to those in the New Testament generation to fully understand what was being said back then.
A lot of righteous men and prophets in the Old Testament wanted to understand certain things that was being revealed to them in their day but couldn't understand, and when we move into the New Testament era, we can clearly see that the Apostles began to understand what the old prophets were talking about; the Apostles however didn't quite understand all the things that Jesus was teaching them in their time either.

There are certain things in the bible that cannot be understood by the unsaved either, and this is true, I have been in rooms many times where I will quote scriptures from the bible and there will be unsaved people in the room that will not understand a word that was said, and if you read my article on "Love of the truth" you will understand why these people are unsaved and will not understand the words in the bible.

There are things in the bible spoken of right from the beginning of time where things could not be understood, and not only until we get further into the stages of human history where more information becomes revealed that will be made available to understand these things much clearer.
So we see the following things when it comes to understanding the bible.

 

1. Some things are hard to understand
2. Some things are purposely hidden
3. God wants to keep certain people from understanding things
4. God also wanted people of different times to understand things at different times

 
Turn to Revelation Chapter 2:

 

Revelation 2:17 "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it."

 
Now manna in the bible is a picture of the Word of God, and the bible tells us this in Deuteronomy Chapter 8.

 

Deuteronomy 8:3 "And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord doth man live."

 
So according to Deuteronomy chapter 8, we read that the manna represented God's Word, and the bible tells us that there is HIDDEN manna that we can eat from.

When we read from God's Word every day we are eating of the manna of God's Word, and we are getting our daily bread from the Word of God; but the bible teaches that that there is HIDDEN manna, something that is hidden, it is something that is purposely put out of the way, put out of plain sight so that someone has to dig deeper and search to find it.

So there are things that are easily understood and things that are not easy to be understood and that you really have to be saved, to understand everything in the bible.

The bible says to him that overcometh, means to be saved, and of course if you do a search for the word "overcometh" in the bible you will find that it does mean to be saved.

But look, just because you're saved doesn't mean that you're going to learn everything in the bible the first time round you finish reading it through right?

It's going to take time, it's going to take work, and it's going to take study to dig out that hidden manna; but the fact that you are saved makes you capable of searching out the hidden manna in God's Word.

It's all there for you, and you have the ability to understand it all if you are saved. I'm not saying you're going to understand it immediately, I mean what good would that be if you just read the bible once and understood everything, why would you even read it through a second time?

There is so much truth in the bible and that if you understood it all at once, your head would probably explode, I mean you probably fall over dead! It'll be like trying to run too many application on your computer at once, and your computer would just freeze or overload; that's what it'd be like.

Every time you read the bible you learn something new, and look, don't worry about the part you don't understand, worry about the part that you do understand; it's going to take a life time to understand things of God and we will keep on learning, the bible is an infinite book.

Now let's start out with some basic principles to utilize to help us understand the bible.

 

The Hard Stuff

 
What do you do when you run into hard, difficult, confusing and hard to wrap your head around things to understand in the bible?

Number 1, the first and foremost thing you need to understand to wrap your head around these difficult passages to help you understand is this:

YOU MUST BELIEVE THAT EVERY VERSE IN THE BIBLE IS TRUE!

Now if you don't believe that every verse in the bible is true, YOU WILL NEVER UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE!

You must believe that every verse in the bible is true, you cannot doubt any aspect of it or you will never understand what is contained in the bible.

This must be your first and foremost rule to establish in your foundation to properly exegete the scriptures, this of course ties in with being saved.

You have to be saved to understand it, the Holy Spirit that is in you will illuminate things to you.
But you have to believe that the Word of God has been preserved in our English KJV translation, and that every single verse in there is true.

In fact, ANYONE who says that they believe there are contradictions and it is not translated correctly will only NOT understand the bible, but they are NOT saved themselves period.

 

Hebrews 11:3 "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

 
FAITH is the key to understanding, you must believe the bible in order to understand the bible; for example turn to Mark Chapter 16:

Now before I go into this more, if I believe that every verse in the bible is true, because that's our foundation right? That's the first thing that I need to have.

I believe that every verse in the bible is true, so that means when I come to two verses that looks as though they are contradicting each other, the first thing that I have to realise is that BOTH VERSES ARE TRUE!

They are both God's Word so I must understand that both verses are true. Therefore, I must find a way to understand that scripture whereby both can be true.

Now I'm using Mark 16:16 here as an example because this is a scripture that is often used, it is twisted and twisted to teach a false doctrine where it really teaches no such thing.

This false doctrine is called Baptismal Regeneration where these false teachers will say that you have to ALSO be baptised by Immersion in water to be saved.

 

Mark 16:16 "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned."

 
This verse can be understood by anyone with Basic English skills that there is a semicolon there denoting a long pause in between the sentence but not signalling the end of a statement. Let's analyse the first half of the sentence.

 
"He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved"


 
Now it's easy to see that this can create problems if the entire statement ended here, but it doesn't does it?

And if there are numerous (probably around 100) other verses that tell that Salvation is by faith alone. So how do we figure this scripture out?

OK, so what's the first thing we need to realise? This verse is true.

"He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned" this is a true statement.

Now John 3:15 says, "That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life."
How can both these scriptures be true? 

Well it's really simple, both of these can be true if the only thing you have to do to be saved is to BELIEVE.

And if the only thing you have to do to be saved is to believe, then both verses are true.

By this method of interpretation you can then ask yourself, well if the only thing that I have to do to be saved is believe, then John 3:15 is true, and Mark 16:16 if you believe and be baptised you'll be saved is true.

Let me ask you this, if you believe and walk through a door you'll be saved?

If you believe and stand on your head you'll be saved?

The answer to these questions would be yes, because if you believe you'll be saved; there is no contradiction at all here.

Look at the next statement after the semicolon, it says "He that believeth not shall be damned." Does it say, "if you're not baptised you'll be damned."? 

No, if it did say he that is not baptised then we would have a real problem here, he doesn't say at all, in fact there is no verse in the bible that will even come close to saying that if you're not baptised you'll be damned. 

Find a verse in the bible that comes out and says that, but I'll find you many verses that say if you don't believe you'll be damned. Where do you want to start? We have a ton of them that'll tell you that.

Some people will even say that everyone who believes will get baptised as well, now for the sake of an argument you could say that everyone who believes will automatically get baptised; no we know that that is not true.

There are tons of examples in the bible where we see people who believe, don't get baptised like the thief on the cross, what about the great multitudes of people in the book of John who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ but did not confess him openly for fear of the Jews?

This is an example of people who believed but didn't want to make it public that they believed because they loved the praise of men, more than they loved the praise of God, look that was wrong of them, that was sinful of them but look, we don't always know who is getting saved or not this happens internally we cannot see it.

So remember, all verses in the bible are true, but I'm going to show 3 principles to help you understand this.

1. Always use the clear scripture to interpret the unclear scripture.

For instance, if you have a clear scripture and a really foggy difficult scripture or dark saying; which one of those scriptures are you going to be wrong about?

You're more than likely to be wrong about the unclear scripture, so let the clear scripture interpret or outweigh the unclear scripture. But remember, they are both true don't get me wrong here as you continue to grow in the bible the unclear scripture will soon become clear as the Holy Spirit will help you along the way in understanding the scriptures.

Always start with the clear scripture.

1. Use the New Testament Scripture to interpret the Old Testament Scripture.

Go to Daniel Chapter 12, this is going to tie into what was said earlier about how the people in the Old Testament did not understand certain things being said to them where as the New testament they did.

Now in the Old Testament, did the people then have more knowledge or less knowledge?

They had less knowledge right? 

There are more unclear scriptures in the Old Testament than in the New Testament which conveys more information and is more up-to-date.

Now in Daniel Chapter 12, God has just given Daniel a prophetic vision and Daniel says he heard, but understood it not.

 

Daniel 12:8-10 "And I heard, but I understood not: then said I, O my Lord, what shall be the end of these things? ⁹ And he said, go thy way, Daniel: for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end. ¹⁰ Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

 
So Daniel asks God what all these things meant, and God responds to him by telling him to go thy way, for the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end. So are the words sealed forever? 

No, they are sealed until the time of the end.

God is saying to Daniel, look you don't understand and you're not going to understand the words are sealed up till the time of the end.

Look at verse 10, just like we talked about earlier it says NONE of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand!!!

At this time Daniel did not understand but in the future, the wise shall understand and the wicked won't. This is part of the reason why we should use the New Testament scripture as our primary source of authority, not to say that the Old Testament isn't true, EVERY word of the Old Testament is true but let the New Testament guide you and help you clarify the Old Testament.

So in Daniel 12 it says sealed till the time of the end right? Well let's go forward to Revelation 22:

 

Revelation 22:10 "And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand."

 
So in Daniel 12, God is saying it is sealed and you're not going to understand it, but in Revelation 22 he says Seal it NOT for the time is at hand!

If I'm dealing with bible prophecy, what's the clearest book that I should parked in?

Daniel or Revelation? Revelation of course, the word itself means "to reveal".

You need to get into the New Testament to tell you what Ezekiel 38 and 39 means, you need to get into the New Testament to tell you what Daniel and Zechariah means.

Use the majority of scriptures that agree with each other to interpret the minority of verses, you're more than likely to be wrong about the one obscure verse than you are to be about the many clear verses that you understand.

Let the majority of verses help you understand that one obscure verse, for example you might have one or two verses like in James chapter 2 where he says faith without works is dead and can faith save him, and you have hundreds of verses that you are saved by faith alone; which one do you think you're probably mixed up on, which one do you think that you are interpreting wrong?

No look, when I first came upon James 2 in the bible it totally confounded me, it just blew me away especially after reading that Salvation is faith only and not of works and then coming to these verses that seemed to just punch me in the face.

I actually left it and kept reading because I knew that what I had been reading from the beginning of the bible right past Hebrews Hall of Faith Chapter 11 and bang! James 2, what the heck; faith without works is dead?

I moved on because I knew that I wasn't understanding it correctly and came back to it many times and finally realised what James was talking about as my knowledge grew that particular confounding passage became clear and the Holy Spirit illuminated me on that matter.

So the 3^rd point here is to let the clear majority of verses interpret the difficult minority of verses.


Moving along…

 
4.     Let the Statements outweigh the Questions


A lot of false doctrines are based on questions that are asked in the bible rather than the clear statements of the bible.

Look at people who deny faith alone saves, they base their doctrine of works salvation on a question from James 2, which says can faith save him?

What about the doctrine of baptisms for the dead? 

This doctrine is also based on a question rather than a statement in 1 Corinthians 15:

 

1 Corinthians 15:29 "Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are they then baptized for the dead?'"

 
What on earth? 

Can you see the error one can make when basing a doctrine on questions in the bible rather than a statement?

And Paul here isn't even talking to the Christians he is talking about another group (possibly Pagans who did engage in baptising the dead in Corinth), if he were talking about the Corinthians he would be saying, "Else what shall WE do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? Why are WE then baptized for the dead?'"

 
Always let the statement teach you what the answer is to the question.

 
Right, now those principles are taken care of let's move on!

 

2 Timothy 2:15 "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."

 
The bible says we need to rightly divide the word of truth meaning we need to differentiate between different things.

KJV 1611 Version

 
There are a few things we need to know to help us differentiate from.

First of all we need to differentiate between the Old and New Testament right? 

Because there are differences in the Old and New Testaments so we need to study the bible to differentiate between the two.

The wrong way to divide is to say, "Oh that's Old Testament, I don't want to hear it", there are a lot of people who think that, just throw away the Old Testament. That's wrongly dividing the word.

Rightly dividing the word is understanding that God has made specific changes in the New Testament, and that if something in the Old Testament that has NOT been specifically changed, specifically altered, and specifically repealed it is still in force today.

If God didn't specifically repeal it in the New Testament, it IS STILL IN FORCE TODAY. 

If God did not specifically repeal it; you better be doing it.

So what are some of the things that God repealed in the New Testament?

 

Hebrews 9:10 "which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation."

 
So we have meats, drinks, divers washing, and carnal ordinances or physical rituals until the time of reformation, which is the time when Christ gave his life for us.

In Colossians 2 we have a similar list:

 

Colossians 2:16 "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: ¹⁷ which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ."

 
We see in Colossians 2 that we are no longer have to observe meats, drinks, regard one day as a holyday or the Jewish festivals or of the Sabbath days.

So we no longer have to keep the dietary laws that were imposed in the Old Testament such as the shellfish and swine (Pig), wherein the New Testament we are told that anything we eat so long as it is received with thanksgiving to God is fine.

What about clothing?

There are things in the Old Testament that God still has in force:

 

Deuteronomy 22:5 "The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are abomination unto the Lord thy God."

 

That's right, nowhere in the New Testament has God specifically repealed this law such items that women wear are (ahem) pants/trousers that only men should be wearing; and the same is considered true vice versa as well. This is also known in our time as cross dressing.

A man should look like a man, and women should look like a woman. God has not repealed this at all in the New Testament.

There is still many prohibitions in the Old Testament still in force today. You should, get out your bibles and start reading to find out what they are.

The next point I'd like to move onto is that we need to differentiate between the statements of God and the statements of Man.

Remember to always base the truth on statements of the bible and especially rightly divide between a statement and a story or a parable, and always use the statement to interpret the story or the parable.

Look if the only evidence that you have to back up your doctrine is a story or a question; then I'm sorry, but you have the wrong doctrine!

A story should only reinforce what you believe, illustrate what you believe, but it should not be the foundation of your belief, it should NOT be the foundation of your doctrine. 

Everything that you believe SHOULD be based on a CLEAR STATEMENT in the bible. 

We know that a lot people say things in the bible, and those things aren't always true.

For example a verily, verily statement should not be outweighed by one that is not consisting of the word verily. Another example is that the Devil speaks in the bible and we know that there is no truth in him.

I'll give another example, turn to Luke chapter 2 talking about Jesus:

 

Luke 2:33 "And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him."

 
Notice the inspired KJV bible says Joseph and his mother marvelled; the bible here is clear that Joseph is not Jesus' father, but the modern (Per-) versions of the bible like the New International version (NIV) call's Joseph Jesus' father.

 

NIV Luke 2:33 "The child's father and mother marvelled at what was said about him."

NASB Luke 2:33 "And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him."

ESV Luke 2:33 "And his father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him."

 
This is blasphemy, that is wrong, the NIV and the other modern bibles are teaching a wrong doctrine! 

Joseph is NOT Jesus' father, Joseph is Jesus' stepfather I'll give you that, but in no way does any of the translation calls him a stepfather!

It's funny when you tell people who attack the KJV and they'll say what about verse 48 where the KJV calls Joseph Jesus's father?

 

Luke 2:48 "And when they saw him, they were amazed: and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing."

 
Um OK, is God the one doing the talking? 

This is Mary speaking calling Joseph Jesus' father.

Listen Roman Catholic! 

Mary isn't God, someone needs to rebuke these Catholics that are defending these modern versions that Mary isn't God!

Look in the next verse, Jesus corrects Mary for saying what she did:

 

Luke 2:49 "And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

 
See here Jesus rebuking his mother, he says how is it that you sought me? 

Do you not know that I must be about my Father's business? 

Notice the capitalization of the word "Father" being used also compared to the previous verse use of the word when Mary is speaking.

In essence he's saying to Mary, how is it even possible for my Father to be seeking me when he is in heaven and knows everything? 

He's not looking for me, he knows exactly where I was!

Jesus is saying I AM about my Father's business, preaching and teaching God's Word, how is it that you say this man, this carpenter is my father and he was seeking me?

Here is another misconception of Jesus, people who call Jesus a carpenter, the bible makes no indication that Jesus was a carpenter, the only passage that alludes people to believe Jesus was a carpenter is in the book of Mark chapter 6 we read:

 

Mark 6:3 "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him."

 
See how this is a question from people who really didn't know him at all? 

See how you can get the wrong doctrine from a question instead of a clear statement?

Jesus was more like an engineer, a mister fix it, and jack of all trades, is he not the creator of all things?

There is no clear evidence that Jesus was a carpenter.

So we need to differentiate between when God is talking and when man is talking, and when man is talking, what he says may or may not be true.

One more thing, who is the narrator of the bible when there is nobody talking? The Holy Spirit, the Spirit narrates the story.

And when you are struggling with a passage in the bible, you've got to put away preconceived ideas.
A major enemy to the bible is an idea or belief that you have been holding onto causing you to be biased in your interpretations.

For example John Chapter 3 is one of the chapters in the bible where a preconceived idea will cause you to misinterpret what Jesus is teaching Nicodemus.

The subject being "born again" and greatly misinterpreting the "water" to be baptism is indeed a gross mistake people make, and people who believe in baptismal regeneration will use this chapter to prove their belief.

Jesus explains what it is to be born again and contrasts the two births further into the chapter – IT IS NOT ABOUT BAPTISM.

Once you get an idea stuck in your head, it prevents you from understanding the passage. You start to assume things that aren't there are there, and insert your ideas about something into the passage to twist and pervert the passage until it fits your idea, until it agrees with your belief rather than what God is teaching you.

In fact the only assumption you should be making at all is what we learnt earlier, THAT ALL VERSES OF THE BIBLE ARE TRUE, every single jot and tittle of the bible is true!

PUT ASIDE PRECONCEIVED IDEAS!!

Lastly, if in doubt, take the passage literally! We should always assume things are literal in the bible unless it is obvious that it is symbolic – Yes! Common sense is required here.

For example if I'm talking to my wife or children, shouldn't they assume that everything I say is literal?

Or should they just assume that most of everything I'm going to say is symbolic?

If I said, "Honey, I don't feel like hanging around the restaurant after dinner, I'd like you to, as soon as we've finished eating, to round up the kids and head straight for the car and go home".

And she thinks to herself, "Hmmm, what did he mean by that? I wonder if he means were starting something new, or he wants us to try something new in our lives"

Seriously, is that a literal interpretation or a Symbolic interpretation?

Shouldn't she take that as a literal interpretation?

If I said to my child, "I've told you a million times for you not to do that!"

With any common sense you would interpret that as symbolic right?

As if I said not to do that a million times.

If you start to think that everything in the bible is symbolic, you will start to get yourself into a lot of false doctrine.

We should not waste a lot of our time on someone who thinks everything is symbolic.

Hell is not symbolic; it is a literal real place. Get in the truth and walk in the light.

May God bless you on your personal journey to know the saviour, but remember it is not whether you know the saviour; it's whether the saviour know YOU.

Father I hope that whosoever should read these words, can use them and help guide them into trying to understand your Words written in the Holy Bible, I hope they get themselves and their house saved and I ask that my own household come into the fold as well. Please help understand that that the only preconceived ideas we should have is that all scripture, every jot and tittle written in your Word is true, we pray and thank thee in the name of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen

The Good Samaritan

Luke 10:25-37 "And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? ²⁶ He said unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou? ²⁷ And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. ²⁸ And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live. ²⁹ But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbour? ³⁰ And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. ³¹ And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. ³² And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. ³³ But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, ³⁴ and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. ³⁵ And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee. ³⁶ Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? ³⁷ And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

 
The part I would like to focus on today in Luke Chapter 10 is the parable of the Good Samaritan, starting in verse 25 where it says a lawyer, now a lawyer in those days is not like the lawyers we have today. In those days a lawyer is someone who is an expert in the scriptures, someone who is an expert in the laws of Moses.

Now the lawyer stands up to tempt the Lord Jesus, asking Jesus, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

Now if you would, flip back over to Matthew chapter 19, here we find a similar story in the bible, I'm going to use this story to help explain the story of the Good Samaritan.

 

Matthew 19:16 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

 
Jesus responds to this question in the following verse.

 

Matthew 19:17 "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

 
Now a lot of people will take these verses and completely misunderstand and stumble over these verses, just like the people in Jesus time, the people who he was speaking to didn't understand what was being said.

You need to understand something here with the people in Matthew 19 and Luke 10, Jesus was speaking to people who are very zealous of their religion, the Pharisees, the Scribes and they thought that they were going to go to heaven because of their own righteousness.

Let's turn to Romans Chapter 10 for a moment, where it talks about the same type of people here.

 

Romans 10:1-3 "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. ² For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. ³ For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God."

 
And in Romans Chapter 9 we read the following.

 

Romans 9:31-32 "But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. ³² Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;"

 
The problem with the Pharisees, Sadducees and the scribes is that they believed that by doing good works, they would be saved; they thought by doing the works of the law they would go to heaven.
But let's see what the bible says should one decide to get into heaven by the works of the law.


 

James 2:10 "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all."

 
Let's be honest, nobody can keep the whole law and not offend in one point, there is nobody who can say that they have never lied before, and I'm sure there are people out there who have done worse things than lying…and the bible says if you offend in one point; you are guilty of ALL.

The bible says for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. The bible also says that, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

Look, every single one of is sinner, every single one commits sin, and the Pharisees and Scribes actually thought that they were good enough to get into heaven; they were trying to earn their way to heaven by doing good works, but of course John 3:16 tells that for God so loved the world, that he gave us his only begotten Son, and that whosoever believeth in him should not perish and have everlasting life.

That's what decides on who is saved and is not saved, that fact that you need to put ALL your faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Throughout the four gospels you can see that Jesus is trying to teach these people and show them of their imperfections, Jesus is trying to show them that they are not as good as they think they are; he is trying to get these people to a point where they realise that they are a sinner, that they come short of God's glory, that they're not good enough and that they need Jesus Christ to save them.

Look at it from this point of view, if people were good enough, if people could get into heaven by their own righteousness, and they lived a good life; then why did Jesus have to die on the cross?
Doesn't make any sense does it?

Most people think that every person will stand before God and he will judge us by our works, and then say along the lines of, "Oh my child, you did many wonderful works come on in", and the bad people will go to hell, that's what a lot of people think.

How much is enough good works? There is no such thing as you tried, or do the best we can and then Jesus will fill in the rest for you, NO. If the bible says you offend in one point of the Law, you are guilty of ALL.

EVERYBODY needs to be saved by putting your faith only in Christ Jesus!

Notice in the four gospels that Jesus did not go around preaching to everybody that he was going to die, be killed, and then get buried for three days and rise from the dead?

Notice how his disciples didn't even understand this when Jesus told them what was going to happen?
It wasn't until after all the things that happened to Jesus, and when he ascended back to heaven that the Apostles had fully realised what Jesus meant, all his teaching became clear to them.

Now going back to Matthew 19 we should have a clearer understanding at what Jesus is trying to teach here.

Now Jehovah Witnesses will twist this passage and will try to teach you two things here, I know this because some of my family are Jehovah Witnesses; anyway they will try to teach you from Matthew 19:17 that you have to earn your way to heaven by works, and also teach that Jesus is not God.
Let's just quickly go to Romans Chapter 2 first, I just want to explain something here.

 

Romans 2:6-8 "who will render to every man according to his deeds: ⁷to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: ⁸ but unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath,"

 
What is being said here is if you do everything right, keep the Law and live a perfect life, you will have eternal life and if you don't, you will have the wrath of God abiding on you; now we've already concluded that everyone is a sinner, be it Jew or Gentile, we are all sinners and come short, and in Romans 3:28 we read that, "Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law."

You see how easy it is to take Chapter 2 out of context while he is explaining that in order to go to heaven you have to be perfect, but then he goes onto explain how nobody is perfect and that everyone is justified by faith, and not by the works of the Law.

Taking Chapter 2 out of context, people will say, see you have to be perfect to go to heaven…

There are a lot of people out there on this earth, who think they are perfect, full of pride. They think, talk and act like they have no sin, That God will justify their acts, and that God will understand their circumstances.

They will make excuses for their bad actions and choices by saying, God will understand why I do these things because of my up bring, because I had a bad life, or so and so is being bad to me so God will understand the reason why I do behave this way or that. I've heard it, I'm sure you have too.

We're all responsible for our own actions, and God will judge you according to your own actions.
Stop lying to yourselves; you're a sinner and I'm a sinner, which is just the way it is.

Now in Matthew 19, let's see what Jesus says to this man.

 

Matthew 19:16 "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?"

 
So let me ask you this, what does this guy think is going to get him into heaven? His works, he ask Jesus what good works should he do to get a ticket into heaven.

He's asking Jesus, how good he has to be or what good thing I have to do to have eternal life.
Now notice what Jesus says to him in the next verse.

 

Matthew 19:17 "And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments."

 
Now the Jehovah Witnesses will say, see right there Jesus is not God!

Now wait a second, is Jesus good?

Of course he is! Then guess what? Jesus is God, there is none good but one.

Jesus is saying to him, why are you calling me good? Why do you think I'm good? Are you saying that I'm God? See, Jesus isn't saying here that he is not God, Jesus is saying that there is only one good, and that's God.

Jesus is saying to the man that he is not good, he is trying to show this man his own imperfections, he is saying you're not good, and there is only one that is good and that's God. Jesus is saying to him that you're saying it to me because I'm good, that's because I am God.

There is not a Just man on this earth, there is not a man that sinneth not, and this proves that Jesus is God.

Jesus continues onto say if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.

 

Matthew 19:18-19 "He saith unto him, which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, ¹⁹ Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself."

 
Verse 18-19 the young man asks Jesus which commandments, Jesus gives him a list of commands, notice they aren't a complete list at all, this is not some special list that some say Jesus deems these sins more grievous than others.

But look at the young man's reply in verse 20.

 

Matthew 19:20 "The young man saith unto him, all these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet?"

 
Now do you really believe that this man kept all these things from his youth up? 

He's always loved his neighbours, he's never stolen, and he's never told a lie right back from his youth till now, do you really believe that? Even though the scriptures have spoken, all have sinned?

This guy is lying, he's never done all of that, and he's saying to Jesus that he basically feels like he needs something else, he saying, what am I lacking, what do I need to do, I've done it all.

Now let's read Jesus response to him in the next verses.

 

Matthew 19:21-22 "Jesus said unto him, if thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. ²² But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions."

 
So here is a man that came to Jesus, thinking that he could earn his way into heaven by keeping the works of the Law; that's NOT what the bible says, it doesn't say that in the Old Testament, and it doesn't say that in the New Testament. The whole bible teaches that it is by faith, and not of works.

So here is a man who said, I want to know exactly how good do I have to be, what do I have to do to make sure I'm going to heaven. This guys doesn't even know if he's going to heaven. 

Nobody, who thinks they are justified by their works can really know for sure if they are going to heaven, because they don't know if they are really good enough; but the answer of course is they are not going to heaven.

The young man is saying, what am I missing?

Jesus said to the man if he wants to be perfect, let me point it out for an area in what you're lacking where you're NOT perfect.

You see this is prime example of what the Law or specifically the 10 Commands is used to achieve, Jesus is using the Law to show this man that he is not perfect and that we need a saviour to save us, and we have that saviour, Christ Jesus.

Jesus said to the young man, sell all your belongings and give to the poor. Here is a person who has amassed a great deal of wealth, and Jesus is saying to him, why don't sell it and give to the poor, why aren't you following me?

Jesus is saying here that Salvation is not just a list of things that you don't do, he saying why aren't you following me?

The young man ends up walking away all sorrowful and not willing to do none of these things, he came to Jesus thinking he was Justified by works, and he left Jesus still thinking he was justified by works; went away sorrowful because he couldn't measure up!

Now let's get to the main part of this article which is titled The Good Samaritan.

Turning to Luke Chapter 10, here we have a similar story where the key precept is obtaining eternal life or getting into heaven.

Now this is a different event but what we have learnt so far is key to understanding this particular parable.

Now most people, if not everyone has heard of this story, it's one of the most famous stories in the bible whether you're a believer or not you would have heard this story in its many forms, and like all parables it's true meaning is hidden to the spiritually discerned, the unsaved will not understand the deep spiritual truths of the parables that Jesus taught.

 

Luke 10:25 "And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"

 
Can you see the similarity to the story of the rich young man?

It says here, the lawyer is tempting Jesus, now is tempting someone a good thing or a bad thing?

The lawyer is trying to catch Jesus, he is trying to trip him up in his words, trying to get Jesus to say something wrong by asking him really hard questions.

Jesus responds to him in the following verse.

 

Luke 10:26 "He said unto him, what is written in the law? How readest thou?"

 
The lawyer replies.

 

Luke 10:27 "And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself."

 
Jesus responds to him with the following.

 

Luke 10:28 "And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live."

 
Jesus is saying here, if you were to do all the commandments perfectly from your youth until now, if you were never to make a mistake, never break the any of the 10 Commandments, never do anything wrong, sell everything that you have and give it all to the poor, follow Jesus your whole life, Love God with all your heart, soul and strength and do likewise to your neighbour just as much as you love yourself; you will go to heaven, but NOONE CAN DO THAT! Not one is able to do that!!

OK, theoretically if you did all these things would you go to Hell? No, if you lived a perfect life you would be saved and go to heaven, but we know that it is not true, no one can say they have no sin.

But this isn't finished look what the lawyer says.

 

Luke 10:29 "But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, and who is my neighbour?"

 
Now Jesus has told that he needs to love his neighbour as he would love himself. Now the lawyer says to Jesus, ok so who is my neighbour, who do I have to love as myself?

So this is where Jesus begins to tell a story.

 

Luke 10:30 "And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

 
So here is man who is on a trip, just moving along, doing what he normally would do minding his own business but suddenly falls victim to a bunch of thieves waiting for somebody to come along that they can rob.

They jump this man, they attack him and look what the bible says, they strip him of his clothes, and they wounded him, possibly stabbing him, they leave him for dead.

And then what happens?

 

Luke 10:31 "And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side."

 
Here is a priest, someone who is supposed to be a religious man, someone who was giving his life to teach other people to love each other, help each other, but he comes across this guy lying in his own pool of blood and just looks at him. What does he do? He jumps over to the other side and walks right past him. Isn't he the type of person you would see in our society today? You know, that type of person who says I don't want to get involved in that, I don't want to deal with that, not my problem.
Look at the next verse.

 

Luke 10:32 "And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side."

 
The Levite does the same thing…

 

Luke 10:33 "But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,"

 
What is the significance of the third man being a Samaritan? The bible said in those days that Jews had no dealings with the Samaritans, it was like a racial thing.

The Samaritans were a mixture of different races, when the kingdom of Assyria sacked the northern kingdom of Israel the Israelites of the northern kingdom intermingled with the foreign invader, because of this, the Jews of the southern Kingdom of Israel or the Kingdom of Judah did not want to mix with the Samaritan for this reason, they looked down upon these people.

This is pure racial prejudice and is definitely not right, the bible says we are of all one blood. We should not believe that races should be separated and is taught by wicked people like Charles Darwin who pushed his theory of evolution. Evolution pushes racism, period.

It doesn't matter what race you are, we are all the same.

Now this Samaritan man is looking at this poor fellow on the ground, he's looking at him and he sees he is hurt, in trouble and is dying. The Samaritan is filled with compassion, what going through his mind is that he needs to help this man, my heart goes out to this man, I need to give him some attention or he will die.

We then read what the Samaritan does.

 

Luke 10:34 "and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him."

 

So he sets the man on his own beast, and starts to lead the horse while the injured man lay on the horse and leads them to an Inn and took care of him.

 

Luke 10:35 "And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee."

 
Now the next day, we read that the Samaritan took out as he was departing some money and gave it to the host or the Inn keeper, and said to him to take care of the guy and that whatever he has to spend more on him he will come back and repay him.

These days you can't really walk to a place and say just send me the bill, we no longer live in a world where a stranger can be trusted at all. This story tells me that this man could be of a good reputation with the keeper, why else would he agree to do this?

Jesus now gives in the next verse the moral of the story.

 

Luke 10:36-37 "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves? ³⁷ And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise."

 
Now the lawyer is picking the one person that was probably not the person he would think to treat as his neighbour, a Samaritan.

But notice how Jesus turns the story back around to the lawyer?

In verse 29 the Lawyer tempting Jesus asked him, who is my neighbour?

And in verse 36 Jesus asks the lawyer, "Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?"

Jesus is saying who do you think (of the 3) was neighbour to the guy that fell victim to the thieves?

It's not about who is your neighbour, it's not about having a neighbour; it's about BEING a neighbour.

It's not about how many friends you have or who is a friend to you, Jesus is saying it's about who YOU are a friend to, who YOU are going to help; Jesus is saying YOU are the one who is going to decide who YOU are going to be a neighbour to.

He says it's not that somebody's your neighbour or your friends and family and you're going to help them out. You decide who your friend is, you decide who your neighbour is, and when you see somebody who needs your help, whosoever they are, when you see somebody in need, now is the time to for to be a neighbour to them!

That's what he meant by "thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self" it is the person that YOU love, it's the person that YOU'RE willing to help, it's the person YOU have compassion on; that's YOUR neighbour, NOT who is your neighbour but who YOU are going to be a neighbour to.

And Jesus tells them to go and do likewise, that's how I want you to live.

When you think about this story, reflect for a moment and ask yourself this, is this really the type of person that most people are in this world?

The type of person that would just pull out hundreds of dollars of money to help somebody out? To go out of their way to help their fellow man in need?

This type of person is rare indeed, much like a virtuous women, this type of person that we all ought to be is a rare jewel indeed. Let's be honest, NOT all self-professing Christians would even do this. 

Not All truly saved persons would do such a thing, it doesn't mean they're not saved, that's why James Chapter 2 asks the question about our faith, what does it profit or who does it profit it we remain dead in our faith?

Jesus is saying Christianity is about when we see someone in need, we should be that neighbour and offer our assistance.

Jesus said, Love God will all thy heart, soul, mind, and all thy strength; he said that comprehends the first half of the Law right there.

He also said the other half is this, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself; he said on these two commandments, hang all the Law and the prophets.

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you aren't going to steal from your neighbour are you?

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you're not going to commit adultery with his wife or vice versa?

If you love your neighbour as yourself, you're not going to covet what your neighbour has, you're not go to lie to your neighbour and so on.

Love is the fulfilment of the whole Law according to what the bible says.

So the original question that was asked was, who is my neighbour?

But Jesus said, who are YOU going to be a neighbour to?

On a deeper spiritual note, this entire story symbolizes what Jesus has done for us.

The beaten man = is us, all the people in the entire world.

The thieves = Satan and his demons, and his children, they came to steal, kill and destroy. (John 10:10)

Priest and Levite = the priests and Levites are they that represent the Old Covenant (Old Testament) Laws and Ordinances, they have nothing to offer the wounded man under the Old Covenant. 

They are headed on the path of destruction, trying to keep the Law perfectly but can't. Following the Law leaves no room for Grace. (Romans 4:4 and Romans 11:6)

The Good Samaritan = Jesus is symbolized by the Good Samaritan, remember there is none good but one, and that is God; and Jesus is good, so he is God. (Parable of the Rich young ruler Matthew 19)
Also note in John 8:48 the Jews accuse Jesus of being a Samaritan.

We are all dead in our sins, there is not one righteous (Romans 3:10), and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

Jesus came down from heaven not to do of his own will (John 6:38), who is God manifest in the flesh (1 Timothy 3:16) who saw that we needed to be saved because we could not do it ourselves (Romans 3:23).

God who has compassion and mercy on us would become our neighbour and selflessly offered his own life to save us from the death.

He bandaged our wounds, pouring oil and wine…

Oil = the anointing of the Holy Spirit and the marking of ownership. Just as in the story of King David, you are marked by the King of Kings with oil, showing the world that you are his.

Wine = symbolically being born again, Just like pouring new wine into new wine skins. The person must first be given a new nature. Once you are born again, Jesus through the Holy Spirit can then begin working on regenerating your spirit.

The Inn = is also symbolized as the Holy Spirit, when we are saved by Jesus the Holy Spirit indwells the believer (2 Corinthians 1:22, 5:5, Ephesians 1:13-14).

The Inn is a place of safety and security, in this sense the Holy Spirit is the one who protects us from Satan and his devices and spiritual wickedness.

When the Samaritan departs the next day (Jesus ascending back to heaven after his death and resurrection) leaving the Holy Spirit to watch over the Church who Jesus says is the Helper. (John 16:13)

The Inn Keeper = the body of believers (the Church), he instructs the Inn Keeper to continue to care for the wounded man and nurse him back to recovery (Life). He gives the Inn Keeper two pence to help with any ongoing costs. Does this mean that Jesus has given the Church enough strength to last for the next 2000 years after his departure?

The Samaritan tells the Inn Keeper that he will reward (repay) when he returns (2^nd Coming).

THIS STORY IS ALL ABOUT JESUS...NOT A STORY ABOUT A GOOD PERSON BEING NICE.

He is the One and Only Good Samaritan, and by faith in him, we can act as his tools and thus fulfill the duty of a Good Samaritan.

Now go and do likewise.

Amen.

Sirs, what must I do to be saved?

Salvation

The Bible Way to Heaven

The bible is very clear on Salvation, it is not based on how good you are.

1. Admit that you are a sinner.

The bible says:

Romans 3:23 "for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;"

And the bible says:

Romans 3:10 "as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:" 

I'm not righteous, your not righteous, if it were our goodness that is going to get us into heaven; NONE OF US WOULD BE GOING!

2. Realize there is a penalty for sin.

The bible says in Revelation 21:8

Revelation 21:8 "But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

Quite a list of serious sins there right? but look at the last one listed, it says "All LIARS". Now listen, I've lied before, i'm sure you have told a few lies in your time as well, i'm sure everyone has lied at some point in their lives, and let's face it we've all done something worse than lying; but look ALL will have a part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

What is the second death?

 Spiritual death.

3. Believe that Jesus died, was buried, and rose again for you.

But the bible says:

Romans 5:8 "But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us"

And so Jesus Christ, because he loves us, and the bible says in 1 Timothy that:

1 Timothy 3:16 "And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

God basically took on a human form, he lived a sinless life, he did not commit any sin.

They took him and beat on him, spat on him and put him on a cross to crucify him, and the bible says that Jesus:

1 Peter 2:24 "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed."

 So every sin that you and I and everyone in the world had ever done, and every sin that all have yet to commit, Jesus took all that on the cross and bare it in his own body; he took that punishment for us, every single sin that we all ever committed he bare that punishment on our behalf.

After that they took his body and buried it in a tomb, his soul spent three days and three nights in hell according to Acts 2:

Acts 2:31"he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption."

Then after the 3 days and 3 nights he rose from the dead, he showed unto the disciples the wounds on his body.

The bible is very clear that he died for everybody:

1 John 2:2 "and he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

So not just for our sins only, but for the whole world.

4. Trust Christ alone as your saviour

BUT, there is something we must do to be saved. The bible says, and this has to be one of the clearest scriptures about Salvation has this question; "What must I do to be Saved?"

Acts 16:30-31 "and brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved? ³¹ And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house."

And that's it, he didn't say:

• Join a Church and you'll be saved.
• Get Baptized and you'll be saved.
• Live a good life and you'll be saved.
• Repent of your sins and you'll be saved.

No! All he said was BELIEVE!

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."

John 10:28 "and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand."

John 6:47 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life."

The bible says if you believe on Jesus Christ, you'll have everlasting life. You will never lose it. Read my article on eternal security.

Now the disciples asked Jesus this question and it was this, "Are there few that be saved?"

Luke 13:23 "Then said one unto him, Lord, are there few that be saved? And he said unto them,"

Do we think that most people are saved, or is it few that will be saved?

We would like to think that most people are going to be saved, but let's take a look at the profound answer that Jesus gives us in Matthew 7:

Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: ¹⁴ because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."

Notice the word "strait" that means narrow: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and MANY there will be that are heading in that direction.

And then Jesus went on to say this:

Matthew 7:21-23 "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ²² Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? ²³ And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

Not everyone that will call Jesus "Lord" shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.

They are saying to Jesus that they have done many wonderful works, but Jesus says to them, "I never knew you, depart from me, you that work iniquity"

These people are trusting in their works to save them.

Christ Alone.